CPSIA - we still need your voice!

A one year reprieve is a good thing. But we still need to get this bill reformed! :)

Senator Jim DeMint has put together a CPSIA reform bill. It is eminently sensible, including six major points:

1. Delays the overreaching regulations six months so that all parties can work together to address the needs of our small businesses and the needs of product safety.

2. Allows small manufacturers to use the testing and certification that their component suppliers have done to certify that the components do not contain an impermissible amount of lead. This will save small manufacturers from having to subject their products -- many of which are made in small runs -- to duplicative and expensive multi-thousand dollar tests.

3. Exempts thrift stores, yard sales, consignments shops and other re-sellers from the prohibitions in the act. Goodwill, the Salvation Army and your local flea market were never the source of the product safety concerns encountered last year, and they won’t be in the future. They are good actors trying to provide Americans of modest means with value oriented products. They shouldn’t be subjected to tens of thousands of dollars in potential liability.

4. Prevents retro-active enforcement of the act. There are millions of dollars of safe products in the warehouses and stores around the country today, which could become un-sellable under CPSIA. This will prevent thousands of products from being destroyed and the livelihood of thousands of businesses from being threatened.

5. Provides a Good-Faith Exemption. The act and its associated regulations are extremely complex. Small manufacturers are having difficulty understanding what the act requires of them. While many small businesses are doing their best to comply with the act it's possible someone could accidentally run afoul of the act. If they can show that their error was made in good-faith, my bill will provide them with a one-time exemption from sanction.

6. Requires the CPSC to provide small businesses with a compliance guide. This is an extremely technical regulation that impacts a number of small businesses who don’t have large compliance departments to decipher the regulations for them. Senator DeMint’s bill would require the CPSC, in consultation with the state and federal small business agencies, to develop a compliance guide that addresses the concerns of the small business community.

You can read the entire press release here.

So again, now is the time to contact your senators! Ask him/her/them to co-sponsor Senator DeMint’s CPSIA Reform Legislation, and tell them if they have questions about the legislation they can contact Tom Jones in Senator DeMint’s DC office at 202-224-6121. Tom’s email address is tom_jonesATcommerceDOTsenateDOTgov. If they don't want to co-sponsor, ask them to at least vote for it. :)

Thank you for standing with small artisans and business owners!